new 16-cup Cuisinart Elite!

old Cuisinart, KitchenAid mixer, Brand New Big, and Shiny Cuisinart!

Today is my birthday, I won’t be posting a recipe since I will not be cooking all day. Lunch with friends at the Queen Creek Olive Mill and then out to dinner with Dave at ???  I don’t know where yet because we have a tradition of surprising each other on our birthdays, always going to a place we haven’t tried before.

Happily, I did already open my gifts! I received some very yummy peppermint hot chocolate mix from Connor, a set of eight Riedel wine glasses, and the super-duper new Cuisinart food processor!

When Dave asked me what I wanted, I really couldn’t think of anything, because honestly, if I need something, I buy it. But the one thing I couldn’t bring myself to purchase was this new wonder I’d been craving.  It’s the new Elite Cuisinart.  I’ve seen it in the last few Williams-Sonoma catalogs. I could barely resist, so I would toss the catalogs the second after perusing them, just to keep the temptation away!  I mean, I already own 3 Cuisinarts (for the cooking school, you know!) So to spend all this money on another one did not make sense, but as a gift… that’s OK, right?

It Fits!

It is big! It just barely fits under my cupboard, there is only 1/4-inch headspace between the top of the processor and the bottom of the cupboard- wow, it is even taller than my Professional-size KitchenAid mixer! But that’s fine because it is amazing!

It has 3 nesting bowls with pour spouts, that all fit together and you can use them one right after the other. For example, chop nuts or make a crumb crust in the small bowl, remove it and combine a cheesecake filling in the medium 14-cup bowl, remove that bowl and use the large 16-cup bowl to purée a soup. Can’t wait to try it out, I will keep you posted.  😉